


language game

by revoleotion



Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: I learned what priest means in Chinese class and that sparked this idea, Language Barrier, Netflix took the movie down I couldn't do any research apart from their wiki, Probably ooc, References to Depression
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:35:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24804013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/revoleotion/pseuds/revoleotion
Summary: Liu Cheng Long asks the question everybody (but especially the English speaking fandom) has been asking for so long: Is it father Fujimoto or Father Fujimoto?
Relationships: Liu Cheng-Long & Okumura Yukio
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	language game

“One question,” Cheng Long asked and waited for something in the kid’s face to make him stop talking. The younger Okumura twin seemed like the kind of person to stop every conversation before it even started. But Yukio only frowned slightly and tilted his head.

“Yes?” he asked. 

“Is it father or… father?” Cheng Long continued, only his tone changing the meaning of the same word. 

“I don’t understand.”

Cheng Long rolled his eyes, looked around and realized he had no way of translating his question into Japanese. Of course, Taiwan and Japan held up a amicable connection with many internships involved - but none of the summer programs Cheng Long had attended in Japan had prepared him for this question. Also, he had been twelve when those happened. 

“Like a religious father or a father-father?”

Yukio blinked. 

“牧師?” Cheng Long finally gave in and switched to Chinese. 

Yukio knew more Chinese than most of the Japanese branch did but he still squinted like it was giving him a headache. 

“Priest? Is that the word? Pastor?”

Someone had been learning his 生詞, Cheng Long thought. Not that it mattered how many new vocabs Yukio had studied or not, this conversation wasn’t going anywhere. 

“You kept using the word father in English,” Cheng Long said. 

“I did.”

“Father as in your biological father?”

“Father Fujimoto was not my biological father.”

“What was he to you?” Cheng Long asked. 

Yukio stayed silent. 

Cheng Long caught himself sighing but when he looked back into Yukio’s eyes again, the boy had put on the defensive smile, the smile that always ruined everything. 

“Okay, you know what? Just kidding. See you around.”

\---

Yukio watched as the Taiwanese man walked back to the market to resume his drinking game with whoever else was irresponsible to still be awake. 

Truth was, he wasn’t sure how to answer the question. He had understood from the start, that wasn’t the issue. 

“What was he to you?” he repeated to himself and winced when guilt and exhaustion made his head ache. Not only his head, his entire body hurt. He had to get rid of this feeling, safely. Or make it spiral until it broke him. 

“Wait for me!” he yelled after Liu and smiled when the man stopped and turned to him. 

“You okay, buddy?” he asked. 

Yukio couldn’t remember the last time he was called  _ buddy  _ and he sincerely hoped that Liu was already intoxicated. 

“I want to join you.”

“No, you don’t.”

Yukio stared. How dare him taking this decision away from him? How dare him…

“Listen, kid, I just want to drink Shura under the table. She is asking for it.” 

Despite his joking tone, Liu’s face showed no emotion. The grip around his staff had tightened a bit. Yukio found it impossible to speak. 

“Go back to your dorm. Make some food. Put on a Disney movie.”

Yukio waited for his “just kidding”. Liu didn’t give him one. He just stared, then shifted awkwardly and reached for something in his pocket. 

“I barely used that one,” he offered Yukio and held out a tissue.

Yukio held his breath. 

“Just kidding. Seriously, kid, I wouldn’t offer you a one.”

“Thank you,” Yukio said. He was still angry, a little bit, but most importantly he hadn’t even noticed that he was crying yet. 

“If your brother’s around, please ask him if he expects us to kill him after Satan is defeated. You know, because he’s a demon too.”

“That is the plan, yes,” Yukio said without sympathy. 

Liu opened his mouth, decided to abandon whatever he was going to say, and shrugged. 

“You’re a terrible person,” he finally told Yukio. “But, if it helps, a good person will always be a terrible exorcist.”

“Thank you,” Yukio repeated because he was running out of words. Liu looked satisfied with himself. 

He twirled his staff, smiled and turned away again. 

Yukio stared at his back, his hair, the way he walked like his actions had absolutely no consequences whatsoever. And maybe they didn’t have any. Because even though he had managed to dig deeper than anyone had in a long time, Yukio felt a strange sense of calmness. Like Liu had stolen some of his distress, simply by calling him nicknames and making him watch a movie. 

He stopped at a conbini and bought two packages of ramen. The cashier smiled when he asked for hot water and helped him prepare one of the packages. For a few minutes Yukio just sat at the small bar and stared outside. It was getting late, the kind of late that would concern Rin if he ever found out about it. But Yukio had found out that he could only calm down outside, where he could create a sense of fake security inside his head. He tried the ramen and made an annoyed sound when the steam fogged up his glasses. 

“You’re okay?” the cashier asked. He was the only one in the store apart from Yukio. If he knew how old he was, he’d send him home. 

Not that Yukio intended to tell people how old he was. 

“Sure,” he said, not an automatic response. A genuine one. “I’m fine.”

He bought pez candy before he went home but didn't eat any of it. He stuffed it deep into his coat pocket and hoped that he remembered it next time he met Liu. 

**Author's Note:**

> I, the author, know a lot about depression and Taiwan but not about Japan. Maybe it shows. Maybe it doesn't.  
> Also, I did not expect people to ship those two when I tried to type in the & tag. Then again, exploring the Blue Exorcist tag on Ao3 always leads to some discoveries I have to go to therapy for. 
> 
> 牧师 - mushi, Priest/Pastor/Father (Christian version)  
> 生词 - shengci, new vocabulary  
> (I used the long versions of those words in the text because Liu is from Taiwan. I use those short version in class and on my keyboard, they have the same meaning. I promise. Fun fact for you: All Japanese Kanji you will learn are long versions. Rip to you but I, a Chinese major, am different.)


End file.
